THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are unlikely ever to reveal where their baby was conceived but that will not stop fevered speculation.

For romantics, it would be nice to think that the future King or Queen is the product of the couple’s tour to South-East Asia and the South Pacific.

On their Diamond Jubilee trip to Singapore, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, and the tiny island nation of Tuvalu in September, the couple faced down their biggest crisis yet, when a French magazine published topless photographs of Kate sunbathing at Viscount Linley’s chateau in France.

They were shocked and angry but Kate shone through with her steeliness, determined not to let the controversy ruin the tour. She smiled through the pain and it was clear the scandal brought them even closer together.

The couple had made no secret of the fact that they wanted to start a family when the time was right and on that tour they had one night off duty – spent in a romantic idyll.

On the tiny 37-acre island of Tavanipupu, a former coconut plantation-turned luxury retreat in the Solomon Islands, they were given space and time to relax.

They stayed in a secluded £780-a-night thatched leaf bungalow, standing beside a palm-fringed shore and with its own private jetty from where they could sunbathe, snorkel and paddle canoes.

House No 1 has just one large room, a bathroom and an outdoor shower area with enough space for two. A bamboo fence was hastily erected to give the couple more privacy.

Pamela Kimberly, co-owner of the island, said: “It’s not a huge house. It’s not Buckingham Palace by a long stretch.”

But there is that outdoor shower.

“Two can fit in there. I think it’s romantic.”

Out on the jetty, they could expect the odd passerby. “In the evening there are no motorboats – just people going by in their canoes and often they are singing,” she added. In the intense 38C heat, they spent an evening outside, snorkelling and eating dinner during a tropical downpour.

“They just seemed to love it. They were happy and relaxed,” said Ms Kimberly.

“They got straight into the snorkelling and saw lots of beautiful fish. They were just enjoying the island.”

If the baby was conceived that night, that would make Kate 11 weeks pregnant.

However, it is unlikely she was trying to conceive in the South Pacific due to the need to take anti-malaria drugs.

Doctors also say her acute morning sickness usually starts at between six and eight weeks of pregnancy.

It is more likely that she became pregnant at the couple’s four-bedroom rented farmhouse in North Wales or on their trips to London, where they share a two-bedroom cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, while workmen upgrade Princess Margaret’s former apartments.

If Kate is eight weeks pregnant that would take us back to October 8, when they met young lawyers who had received Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Scholarships at London’s Middle Temple.

It was the start of a series of engagements that also took in a trip to the FA’s new training centre in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and visits to Newcastle and Stockton-on-Tees.

Slightly more prosaic than a thatchedleaf bungalow in the South Pacific.